BCCI announce 16-member squad for Asia Cup 2018

BCCI named their 16-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2018 that will begin from 15th September. Rohit Sharma will be the captain for India in the upcoming competition as Virat Kohli has been advised to rest after a going through grueling series against England.

Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey make their return to the one-day squad while Siddharth Kaul, Suresh Raina, and Umesh Yadav have been dropped.

Manish Pandey makes a comeback after a string of splendid performances for India B side in the recent Quadrangular competition featuring India A, Australia, and South Africa. He scored over 300 runs from four matches in the competition.

Rayudu did not feature in the one-day series against England as he failed to clear the yo-yo Test. It has been a fantastic year for Rayudu as he scored a lot of runs in the Indian Premier League and will be focused to cement his place in the final XI.

The return of Pandey and Rayudu has added more questions as middle-order woes continue to haunt India in limited overs cricket. Experienced players like Suresh Raina, Kedhar Jadhav, and Dinesh Karthik have looked unconvincing and been inconsistent with the bat in the one-day format.

Uncapped pacer Khaleel Ahmed has been included in the squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2018. He was phenomenal with the ball for India in the recent quadrangular series featuring teams like South Africa and Australia. He also did exceedingly well for India A side in England.

On the bowling front, Jaspreet Bumrah makes his return after missing the one-day series in England due to injury. Bumrah was exceptional in red-ball cricket for India against England and will be keen to continue good form in limited overs cricket.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has regained full fitness and has been included in the one-day setup. The right-arm medium pacer also played for India A side against South Africa A to get some overs under his belt before the Asia Cup 2018.

India will start off their campaign with a game against Hong Kong. The side will then take on arch-rivals Pakistan on 19th September.